Improvement in corsets



L. S. 'BORTRBE.

Corsets.

No. 200,967. Patented March 5,1878.

INVENTOR az/d/y/l' flwias ATTORN EYS N.PETER$, PHOTO-UTHOGRAPHER, WAS'mNGTON. D C

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LEWIS S. BORTREE, OF TOLEDO, OHIO.

IMPROVEMENT IN CORSETS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 200,967, dated March 5, 1878 application filed January 19, 1878.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Lnwrs S. BORTREE, .of Toledo, in the county of Lucas and State of Ohio, have invented a new and valuable Improvement in Corsets and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the construction and operation of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawings, making a part of this specification, and to the letters and figures of reference marked thereon.

. Figure 1 of the drawings is a representation of a front view, part sectional, of my improved corset. Fig. 2 is a detail thereof.

This invention relates to a new method of securing the steels or springs in front of the corset, so that the same can be easily removed from the corset Whenever desired, for washing and other purposes.

Heretofore the steels have been secured to the corset by means of flaps, hooks and eyes, as described in Letters Patent granted to James P. Love, dated May 28,1867, No. 65,246; also, the steels have been secured by means of flaps having a series of eyelet-holes and lacing, as shown and described in Letters Patent granted to John W. Lane, dated January 14, 1873, N 0. 134,902.

My invention is designed as an improvement on the abovernamed patents; and the novelty consists in securing the steels to the corset by means of anelastic bow or rod running parallel, or nearly so, with the steel, and passing in and out through slots cut in the cloth, and the lower end of said elastic bow resting in a pocket, as will be hereinafter more fully set forth, and pointed out in the claim.

The annexed drawing, to which reference is made, fully illustrates my invention.

A represents the front of an ordinary corset, provided with the usual receptacle B, to receive the clasp or corset-steel C, said receptacle being formed of the same fabric as the corset. For securing the clasp in the corset I use a bow or rod, D, running parallel with the clasp, and locked in the cloth bypassing them in and out through slots a a, cut in the cloth.

The bow or rod D is passed upward from the bottom, the upper end being held by the seam at the top of the corset, and the lower end sprung into a pocket, b, made at or near the lower edge of the corset.

By simply bending the bow or rod it can be shoved up out of the pocket, and then it can be easily drawn out, when the clasp can be taken out without ripping, and another one or the same one put in, in the same manner. This elastic bow or rod D strengthens the corset-steel, and performs the function of a stiffener. This is of great importance in case the clasp should break, and for washing the corsets.

In connection with this bow or rod, I may use hooks d d, as shown, as an additional fastenmg.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

In a corset, the combination, with the clasp O, and the receptacle B for the same, of the elastic bow or rod D, running parallel with the clasp, and passing in and out through the slots cut in the cloth, and the lower end of the same resting in the pocket b, all substantially as and for the purpose herein set forth.

In testimony that I claim the above I have hereunto subscribed my name in the presence of two witnesses.

LEWIS S. BORTREE.

Witnesses: I

J AMEs H. SOUTHARD, DAVID E. MERRILL. 

